Edited Title Pictures

Edited Title Pictures
By Lily Potter

Photo shoot of Pictures
• In order to create the titles of my production, I used various children’s dolls, both
common to the horror genre and also associated with children, linking my subject
matter and my production together, and also taking inspiration from other media’s
such as American Horror Story: Freak show opening title sequence and Stop
Motion Animation film "Severance". These are clearly marketed with the horror
genre to the public and heavily recognised.
• However, after the photoshoot, I found that many of the photo’s were ineffective
in establishing the genre and also did not give the overall effect that I wanted,
often too light, not shadowed enough or not centred within the frame. I decided
to edit the photos in order to give the pictures a clear horror aesthetic and to
correct any errors within the pictures, adjusting the images to fit my look and feel
of my short film and to fit the horror codes and conventions.

American Horror Story: Freak show
(OTS)
Stop Motion Animation film
"Severance".

Before editing:
After editing:
The biggest contrast between the original picture and the edited version, is the darkness of the
background and the use of lighting, thus creating shadows within the subjects features. I found
this more effective than the original as within the horror genre, the subject in question is often
more mysterious and disorientating towards the audience when facial features are not shown
as recognisable than when viewing when fully lit. Therefore I find that the use of low level
lighting, adjusted using a lower intensity of brightness, has a more intense look and feel about
the object, and also suits the genre, establishing this to the audience directly. Additionally, the
use of the lighting and black background, creates ambiance within the atmosphere, this is
usually because darkness is usually associated with evil and a scene of unease within the
audience's emotions. Darkness also creates the feeling of vulnerability and a sense of threat as
they are unable to see clearly and therefore the fear of the unseen and unknown is created
through lighting techniques and the use of shadow.
In order to focus more on the object itself, I cropped the image, so that it fills
more of the frame. Although this is effective as a picture, when creating an
opening title sequence, I find that this now will not be able to fit as much
information on it as possible therefore a longer title sequence would have to be
made in order to include all of the additional information in. This may then
limit how long my short film can be, therefore I may have to adjust how big my
font is or the size of the picture to fit all names and job roles into my
production.
As well as the use of cropping the image, I also made the object stand out by
lowering the saturation of the picture. This makes a clearer contrast between
the subject matter and background and establishes a typical horror colour
scheme of black and white, which also indicates to the target market the genre.

Before editing: After editing:
I feel that the dark sepia toned filter, is not as effective as the
black and white colour scheme as it is less of a contrast,
although unusual and uncommon within the horror genre,
making it stand out indivually within my production. It also
does not bring out the shadows or highlights within this
picture however due to the filter, blends them and fades them
more, lessening the effect of the shadowed background.
Additionally to the filter, the use makes the subject matter look more dirty and
disused, making the background of the toy more significant. For example, due
to the toy also being broken, the background behind the image links to old
antique objects, commonly seen in horror films and linked with children. This is
significant to the titles of the film as it clearly directs the audience into the
introduction of children by objects commonly associated with them.
Additionally, the dirtied effect gives a feeling of unease commonly linked with
the horror genre.

Before editing:
After editing:
My main aim for this photo was to experiment
with obscure focusing. I have adjusted it so that
there is a focus on the arm and hand holding
the head in a linear fashion. This distorts the
other hand making it look more artificial and
disorientating. This conveys a disturbing sense
appropriate for the horror genre.
In addition to drawing attention towards the subject matter rather than the dark
background I sharpened the image, creating texture of materials of the doll’s
head. This creates more of a gradient between the dolls head and the shadow
which changes the perspective on how the light is caught upon the object and
displayed. I found that this effect creates a spotlight effect upon the object and as
a result, the picture starts to get darker towards the top of the doll’s head due to
the shadow and overall light effect. This is an example of dramatic lighting I used
within my photoshoot and how this could later be applied to my production or
ancillary products for a pronounce effect and show of the horror genre to the
audience.
When adjusting the structure and sharpening the photo,
This had an effect on the colouring and texture of the doll
arms, creating a dirtier look, suggesting to the audience that
these are antique or disused toys. However, the effect on
the arm’s also could be interoperated as being bruises,
giving the doll a human-like imperfection, suggesting a plot
twist within the film later on, making the film intriguing to
watch and find out more.
I found by using mismatched items, this also has
an unease effect directed towards the audience,
and makes the audience think it shouldn’t be
there because it is different. The use of
mismatched and different items within the
horror genre is significant as it is out of the
ordinary and therefore out of the audience’s
comfort zone. In addition the use of the dolls
hands also have a clear symbolic code towards
the audience as the way the hand is positioned,
appears the audience that the toy is being
hushed or strangled, this is a clear link towards
the posters body language and the link between
symbolic codes within the horror genre.

Before editing:
After editing:
After sharpening the image, this gave
more texture to the image, bringing out
the material it is made of as well as
bringing out the dirt of the arm, hand
and the facial features and expression of
the doll.
This original image, had many imperfections such as unwanted set in the
frame and the backdrop not being as dark as I wanted, causing a grainy effect
due to the texture and the light. However, this could be easily fixed by
cropping the image, lowering the brightness of the image and applying a
vignette frame as a gradient effect. This then creates a more professional
effect towards the audience and an official look towards my production as
well as focusing a spotlight upon the doll’s head, indicating its importance
compared to the dolls arm which is more shadowed within the edit.
By cropping the image, I found this to be
more effective than the original photo
as it had a large space around the
subject matter that took the attention
off of the doll features and therefore
was ineffective towards the audience.
However, this may have an affect
towards the titles as this use of space
now limited the amount of space I have
for my titles. Although due to my
production being a large scale animation
with no actors and limited members
working on my film, there may be
limitations towards how much
information my titles will contain.

Before editing:
After editing:
Although there is little difference between the
edited and original version of this image, I
applied more of a darker shadow within the
image and also applied a vignette boarder to act
as a gradient. I also produced a toned highlight
towards the image to give the doll’s more of a
flesh tone to apply in order for them to look
more realistic and less doll-like.
As the light is directly hitting the top of the doll’s
head, this brings the attention towards that
feature more than any other, despite having
other parts of the doll within frame. However, I
find that the cropped image now is unable to
have room to display any titles without
overlapping the doll parts. This may cause
problems if the text is written in a light colour
and would not stand out against the flesh tones.
If using this image I will have to ensure there is
enough room to fit a company name or short job
title to ensure that I can fit all necessary names
within the titles. For this I will refer to the
layout conventions in order to produce a image
that fill fit to the rest of the frame within my
short film production.

Unlike the other photos I have edited, this does not relate to the typical
black and white colour scheme, however I find that the use of the blue,
brings out a mottled and old effect, which proves to be very effective. In
addition to this, I find that due to the contrast of highlights and filters, the
light within the doll’s head has more of an impact and draws the audience
towards it compared to the other subject matter within the photo. The use
of light within the head shows an unrealistic and almost demonic looking
object, which can be easily associated towards the genre.
Like another photos within this shoot, this
photo also has imperfections and
unwanted backgrounds within the shot,
meaning that this image also had to be
cropped in order to fix this and give a
better effect towards the audience.
However, when producing my titles this
may be an issue due to the frame size of
my photo compared to my film. Although
this would be effected more on a big
screen, the difference in frame between
my titles and my animated film will effect
the quality of my overall production
dramatically and therefore possibly my
audience if the film isn’t as professional
looking or suits to the basic frame sizes of
films, therefore effecting the quality.
An issue I find with this lighting is although there is a clear main focus on
subject matter, due to the dark areas within the photo that is enhanced by
the filter, the rest of the doll parts within the photo looks too dark and may
be unrecognisable if watching on a screen where the brightness if not suited
to the production. Possibly lessening the aesthetical effect of the production
if features go unnoticed, especially if there are additional titles to read
within this frame, therefore features that don’t stand out wont grab the
attention of the audience and will therefore go unrecognised.

Although this photo’s layout of the subject matter is very effective, I find that the original image
has too direct lighting towards the object and is included too much within the shot. Therefore I
had to dim the effect within highlighting or crop out the photo altogether. I had trouble with
achieving a realistic with the lighting in this photo as I could not adjust the lighting that did not
take the attention away from the doll parts or make them too dark that an audience member
could not recognised the object, therefore I have to crop the photo to remove the biggest part of
the direct light. Although within the edited phot the light has a gradient effect that is very
effective on the dolls face and the background of the photo, I did however crop too much of the
leg out of the frame and therefore does not look as good as in the original. If using this photo
within my titles, I will have to adjust the frame size of the image so it does not ruin the overall
effect of the image. As this could look unprofessional towards the target market.
By blocking out the eyes of the doll, this has an
automatic connection between the horror
genre and the image, often linked to a demonic
creature. This also has an effect on the
audience by creating enigma and a feeling of
mystery behind the image as you can not
distinguish many facial features due to the
shadowing within the photo. In addition to
this, the face is not connected to the head and
the legs of the doll, also enhances the
mismatched theme within my titles but also
creates another feeling of mystery within the
photo, this makes the audience wonder why
the toys aren’t connected and broken and also
why the face of the doll is acting as a mask,
usually linked to a false identity. The use of this
image creates questions the audience asks an d
therefore want to watch the film to find out the
answers to them.

Before editing: Before editing: Before editing:
After editing: After editing: After editing:
Within these series of photos, I
mainly focused on the way the doll’s
head could be presented within its
lighting and positioning within the
frame. I have used various low-key
lighting techniques and
unconventional ways to use lighting
such as within the doll’s head itself, in
order to create unique ways that my
subject matter will stand out towards
an audience.
Within this photo I mainly focused on
the effect of the shadow in contrast
towards the doll, as I found that the
shadow looked more life like than the
doll itself. I lightly blurred out the rest of
the image, minus the shadow in order to
ensure that it was its main focus and
changed the highlighting and filter to
produce a less of a contrast within the
image to ensure that the shadow could
be seen. However, although this does
have an enigma towards the audience,
half of the doll’s face looks more blurred
and distorted as it is too light and too
blurred to distinguish facial features.
Within this image, I experimented with a black and white filter to create
a bigger contrast within the doll’s head and the background. Although I
find this very effective compared to the other images, I find that the
angle is too high up and would create a better effect if the doll’s head
would look down the lens of the camera, creating a disturbing effect
within the audience, of them being watched, an effect that is often used
within the horror genre.
Although this edit brings out the light within the doll’s head in a unique
way and brings out the dirt within the doll’s face, I find that due to the lack
of other objects within the frame. Although this would then bring the
audiences full attention towards the titles on the image, therefore by
putting an important company name or production name this would then
produce full attention on the most important information towards the
audience.

Conclusion
By preforming this task, this helped me to expand on the images use as I could not
only use these photos within my titles of the film, but I could also use them within
the posters advertising the film and also within my magazine film review, having
clear links within my ancillary products and production, making them flow and easy
to identify and connect to the audience, acting as a relatable theme within my
products.
I have also found within editing my photos that I will still have to make adjustments
towards my photos in order to ensure that they are fit for purpose when involved
within my titles and poster. For example, research and adjustments within layout
conventions will have to be made in order to ensure that my scale is correct within
my titles to ensure it fits with my short film, as well as poster sizes. As well I will
also have to ensure that my filters within my images match each other as the
contrast between photos making it look unprofessional if my photos don’t match
aesthetically and fit a colour scheme, or it may be difficult to see certain texts and
fonts, therefore making it difficult to chose a font type that my audience will be
able to see.

Edited Title Pictures

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